Emotional schema therapy

"Emotional schema therapy attempts to expand the range of regulatory flexibility so that the occurrence of emotion need not result in extreme affective forecasting or self-defeating emotion regulation strategies, but, rather, can become the opportunity to recruit a wide range of adaptive interpretations and strategies for coping. Emotional schema therapy attempts to highlight problematic theories about one's own current emotion and how these are related to unhelpful coping styles that perpetuate further dysfunction. This book examines a variety of techniques to address a number of beliefs about emotion and suggest more helpful strategies for coping with emotions that appear troubling"--

This book presents innovative tools for helping patients to understand their emotional schemas--such as the conviction that painful feelings are unbearable, shameful, or will last indefinitely--and develop new ways of accepting and coping with affective experience. Therapists can integrate emotional schema therapy into the treatment approaches they already use to add a vital new dimension to their work. Rich case material illustrates applications for a wide range of clinical problems; assessment guidelines and sample worksheets and forms further enhance the book's utility.

The social construction of emotion -- Emotional schema therapy : general considerations -- A model of emotional schemas -- Initial assessment and interview -- Socialization to the emotional schema model -- The centrality of validation -- Comprehensibility, duration, control, guilt/shame, and acceptance -- Coping with ambivalence -- Linking emotions to values (and virtues) -- Jealousy -- Envy -- Emotional schemas in couple relationships -- Emotional schemas and the therapeutic relationship -- Conclusions.